Without eyeliner, I feel ghost-like, featureless, anaemic. Hahaha. Okie, not that serious, but eyeliner can make the eyes look larger, more soulful, and depending on the angle and intensity drawn, exudes sexiness/youth/innocence.

I wear black eyeliner almost 90% of the time, but sometimes black can be too harsh, other times black is just… you, know, flat. So when I’m in the mood for something fun, I’ll throw in a color or two!

What I did for this look was draw the first eyeliner layer with black, then top it off with Lancome Artliner 24H in Amethyst. This purple doesn’t behave too well on its own – it’s too diluted and not pigmented enough for my liking, but when laid atop a black eyeliner base, it’s really pretty! I used Shu Uemura Calligraph:ink here, in fact, I use this almost every day.

See that I concentrated the purple on the centre part of the eye, leaving the flick in opaque black to give dimension and differentiation.

I realize I’m really uninspiring when it comes to naming my makeup tutorials. Hahaha! I mean, how else can you call an eye makeup tutorial that involves the use of colors purple, blue, green and yellow? I could name it ‘colorful’, but so are most of my tutorials!

When everything is important, nothing is important anymore, right? So purple, blue, green and yellow it shall be.

I wore this look for the NDP Preview 2012, where I went backstage with Singapore bloggers and Instagrammers. Go read all the NDP-related posts! I’m so grateful to have been part of this mega annual event!

There’s nothing NDP-ish about my eye makeup look though – no red, no white, no crescent or stars – only that I really made up for the special occasion. Nothing OTT, my looks are always wearable. Oh maybe I could name this tutorial ‘fireworks’, but that’s kind of forcing it. Lol.

Every time Min and I meet up, she will scream at me “WHERE’S MY EYE! WHERE’S MY EYE!”. HAHA. These pictures were taken a good 9 months ago but I’ve always been busy with other projects or just something else.

Finally I can say, NAH! HERE’S YOUR EYE!!!

Min was so nice to allow me to use her eye for this tutorial. We did this on a Sunday morning at her house, rather hurriedly, so don’t slam me for the unplucked eyebrows!

Blame Min. HAHA! Kidding! We’re always making fun of one another. Whenever we’re together, we’re like two little childish people. ‘Little’ because we are of almost the same height (I’m probably taller by like 1.5cm haha). EH! You also cannot be air stewardess! HAHAHA!

Min’s my really good friend and she played a big part in the initial stages of designing the Bun Bun Makeup Tips website. She helped design my name card too!

The difference between the Horizontal Gradient Method and Vertical Gradient Method is, quite obviously, the way in which the gradient flows.

From my observations and research, the Horizontal Gradient Method is more well-known and commonly practised in the Caucasian makeup world because their larger lid space allows for more colors to be placed and, unlike many Asians, do not have as heavily hooded eyelids. Most Caucasians only experience hooded lids when they age.

Half of the world’s Asians do not have a Fold in the Lid at all; they have monolids and can be referred to as Mongoloids (Wikipedia). (It has been brought to my attention by some concerned readers that this term has negative connotations. I used the term in an anthropological context and hope no offense is taken.)

The Horizontal Gradient Method of eyeshadow application is also one of the ways to shape the eye and adjust the distance between eyes.

Having horizontal gradients on the Lid requires blending – you really have to blend well – otherwise the eye makeup look will look block-ish. What we want is a smooth transition of one color to the next – left to right to left.

Haven’t blogged for a week coz I’ve been working on a series called Eyeshadow Tutorials for Asian Eyes. Man! It was a lot of work but I’m really pleased with the outcome. I hope this series can help more Asians better understand their eye shape and those who have Asian clients!

In this 1st installment of the Eyeshadow Tutorials for Asian Eyes series, we take a look at where to place eye makeup on the Asian eye.

When I first started out, I had no idea where or how to place eyeshadow. My eye makeup efforts were previously limited to eyeliner and mascara and sometimes, just a light dab of ONE eyeshadow color.

When I purchased my first eyeshadow quad, I was lost.

WHERE DO THESE FOUR COLORS GO TO??? O.o

I had no idea the eye could be divided into so many parts – lid, crease, contour, highlight, etc.

I had no idea that there are so many ways to shape the eye, combine colors, or use colors to emphasize or recede certain parts of the eye.

Google and Youtube, of course, presented me with tutorials and eye charts from their wealth of resources, but most of them were limited to the Caucasian eye.

It took me quite long to understand that I cannot copy the Western way of applying eyeshadow because one of the most prominent differences between an Asian and Caucasian eye is the ‘crease’, or rather, lack of.

You would realize by now, if you have read the post mentioned above, that while the Crease of the Caucasian eye coincides with the Orbital Rim, the Crease of the Asian eye merely defines the Fold of the eyelid. If you have a Fold, it means you have double eyelids – prominent or hooded.

It is the fact that the Orbital Rim and Fold of the eye do not overlap that characterizes the Asian eye, and not the stereotypical slanted eye shape.

In half of the world’s Asian population, there is complete absence of a Fold. For the remaining half who possess a Fold, the Fold commonly does not coincide with the Orbital Rim.

I am very proud to be Asian, and it is my wish to help as many girls out there to understand the Asian eye better and apply the most flattering eye makeup for their own eye shape and contour.

Here is, finally, my own eye shadow placement chart to share with Asians who want to understand how and where to apply eye makeup better.

This chart would also be useful to help makeup artists understand how eye makeup looks can be better applied on Asians.

The chart is based on my own eye – large, round, with prominent double eyelids, and does not coincide with the Contour Area. I throw in tips for monolids and hooded lids as well!

The placement of eyeshadows can vary for different looks, but here is the basic breakdown of parts of the eye.

I included pictures for every part of the eye instead of having just one complete picture with all the different parts outlined, simply because I always find it troublesome to read and refer to only one picture at the top all the time. Took me many hours to draw the outlines, but the result is definitely worth the effort. I’m sure you will find it more straightforward to understand too!